Marvin: Hey folks, it's Marvin Cash, the host of the Articulate Fly.

Marvin: We're back with another East Tennessee Fishing Report with Ellis Ward. Ellis, how are you?

Ellis: I am doing well, Marv. How are you?

Marvin: As always, just trying to stay out of trouble. And, you know,

Marvin: as I always do, getting ready for these things, I looked at your weather.

Marvin: And, I mean, you're going to get a kind of a gully washer of rain,

Marvin: but then you're going to have some really nice temperatures,

Marvin: like 70s, maybe bumping into the 80s in the next 10 days or so.

Marvin: So I imagine dry fly action is right around the corner.

Ellis: Yeah, I feel like my doing well, Marv, how are you, was a little more effusive than normal.

Ellis: Been out on the lower Watauga, well, generally a few days a week anyhow,

Ellis: but really just with my eye.

Ellis: Had a great day fishing last week with a good friend of mine.

Ellis: Um he caught a couple nice fish and

Ellis: i i was like i was a little cranky i

Ellis: was kind of like i wasn't it was

Ellis: kind of like not a good day of fishing for me because i was really excited to

Ellis: start seeing more caddis movement and just

Ellis: because it was kind of cold windy um water

Ellis: was off color and still super early so

Ellis: that has in the last four or five days started and really the last two or three

Ellis: it's it's very much um heading towards peak it'll get thrown a little bit,

Ellis: uh we have 45 mile an hour gusts almost all day forecasted for tomorrow and

Ellis: And kind of similar, I'm sure, Friday, along with some rain.

Ellis: So I will still be out, and we will see what happens.

Ellis: But bugs typically, it's an interesting one because it's actually low pressure.

Ellis: So I will have to report back on that.

Ellis: It's actually going to be in the 70s tomorrow. But yeah, we're...

Ellis: We're there, man. For anyone listening, a couple days, we're there.

Marvin: Yeah, the important thing is to remember to cast under the wind.

Ellis: Yeah, exactly. With a 5-weight and 10-foot leader, just give that nice little

Ellis: extra double haul on the way in, and you'll sink right under there.

Marvin: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And of course, I know you're, you know,

Marvin: while you're excited for dry flies, you know, your heart is, uh, fishing streamers.

Marvin: I would imagine your streamer bites probably been pretty good too.

Ellis: Yeah. Um,

Ellis: You know, it just goes as the streamer light does and somewhat fits and starts.

Ellis: So the last couple of weeks, it's been low water on both rivers,

Ellis: which, you know, I dedicated so much time to figuring out how to make it viable

Ellis: to be streamer fishing in all conditions on both rivers.

Ellis: And what it comes down to is it's it's growing to spots which isn't necessarily

Ellis: a bad thing but um it's a little more focused and,

Ellis: i don't know it takes you know when you have big water and you're just cruising

Ellis: along and you know maybe maybe the water's a little off and you get some intermittent

Ellis: hatches because the hatch activity is also,

Ellis: if you think about the shape of the river and what dry fly shelves are and tail

Ellis: outs and all that, when it's really low water,

Ellis: things become very defined.

Ellis: So the fishing...

Ellis: Can be streamer fish and dry fluffing can be

Ellis: great and and even nymphing in those conditions it's

Ellis: like well they're obviously not in that four inches

Ellis: of water right there maybe in that six

Ellis: inches of water and you know

Ellis: this plunge pool over here with with some

Ellis: juicy log jams behind it's the place that we're going to be fishing so um yeah

Ellis: like you said with the rain coming in we've had a couple pushes that has kept

Ellis: the major tributary of uh the watauga the doe river.

Ellis: Uh pushing some good water but you know

Ellis: i i do love dry fly fishing and um i

Ellis: put a post up a few weeks ago it's just i don't

Ellis: know if it's because there's just there's so

Ellis: many people that put up like macro pictures

Ellis: of flies that just look so

Ellis: incredible um or if

Ellis: it's some sort of differentiating you know not not everyone does what i do but

Ellis: not everyone does what i do with the dry fly stuff as well and uh it's that

Ellis: is one the caddis hatch in particular and a few other their bugs and sort of

Ellis: my knowledge of these seasons.

Ellis: And if it were up to me, I'm not going to say 50-50.

Ellis: I'd probably like 60-40, 70-30 streamer fishing.

Ellis: But I like to stop and hit risers and have developed a pretty good map of where

Ellis: they're going to be and what they're going to be over the years.

Marvin: There you go. I've got a question for you, too, because as it warms up,

Marvin: that also means more people are going to be on the water.

Marvin: You've got the tubers, the rafters, and more fishermen.

Marvin: Brenner wanted to get your thoughts on pattern suggestions when trouts start

Marvin: to get more heavily pressured.

Ellis: Yeah, so I would say that there's so many cliches that are about to come out of my face.

Ellis: What I think you should focus on the most when things, I don't know,

Ellis: feel not great is whatever your confidence pattern is.

Ellis: And that's a reason why I have people fishing the white dungeon.

Ellis: And if they can get the strip cadence down and understand the casting,

Ellis: the drunken disorderly and certain other subset of people, the swim bug.

Ellis: Something that you are looking at.

Ellis: That's making your brain go, wow, that's about to get eaten.

Ellis: That's about to get eaten.

Ellis: That's every single time you're stripping and killing and stripping and killing,

Ellis: you're just, you're ready for it to get eaten because that gives you an extra

Ellis: two or three feet on your ass.

Ellis: And within that two or three feet, you're just focused.

Ellis: Those two or three feet aren't just farther, they're more accurate. it

Ellis: they're getting next to that log jam not four feet from it they're getting eight

Ellis: inches from it and so i don't want to say it's totally pattern agnostic um but

Ellis: but man i i think that external,

Ellis: factors like weather barometric pressure um you know what what the seasonality

Ellis: the river what type of bass move it around,

Ellis: cloud cover clarity, water column all that stuff is probably going to play in a little more,

Ellis: but you know that said and,

Ellis: Over the summer when we're getting, you know, 10, 15, 20 boats,

Ellis: just within a section on the tailwater, I mean, 40 boats per river or more,

Ellis: I'm fishing, you know, 2 to 10.

Ellis: Getting that last light window and starting as late as possible.

Ellis: And, man, fishing low water around a bunch of boats under blue skies.

Ellis: You take the boats away it's still going to be a

Ellis: tough sell so a couple other

Ellis: things just to to add on to that just

Ellis: when you're thinking about pattern and and if what you are doing is not working

Ellis: um and i'll throw out one somewhat counterintuitive but um i don't know some

Ellis: something to change things up,

Ellis: going higher in the water column and something with a more pronounced kill.

Ellis: And that's really where my swim

Ellis: bug came into play, trying to get over log jams and weed beds and stuff.

Ellis: And it's step cousin, twice removed to the drunk.

Ellis: Something with neutral buoyancy or a lot of friction in the head that's going

Ellis: to give you that side-to-side dog walk.

Ellis: And it's going to sit a little higher in the water column because brown trout

Ellis: is, you know, my experience, observations, I have not had the opportunity to speak to one.

Ellis: But they're they're they're coming from below and

Ellis: they're eating from the belly and when they're being wary

Ellis: they're not chasing the thing out they're

Ellis: not stalking it they're they may stalk it from a distance and wait for their

Ellis: opportunity and then they're going to come and absolutely smash it you'll get

Ellis: the occasional you know come come from behind kind of like a musky follow but

Ellis: But throughout that process, you need to be able to control your fly.

Ellis: And we talked about this, you know, months ago with trying to convert those

Ellis: follows in eights. And, you know, general rule is shorter and faster.

Ellis: So a fly that you can get more of those different triggers, be it an up and

Ellis: down, be it a side to side, be it stop, speed.

Ellis: So some of the hair bugs provide.

Ellis: All of those things, they require more from the angler, but their ceiling is much higher.

Ellis: And then last complete cliche is don't be afraid to go super small.

Ellis: And it's way less exciting. And for me, honestly, it takes away a lot of the

Ellis: visual fun of streamer fishing, especially as a tire.

Ellis: Seeing the dynamics of something that I've constructed. constructed um but yeah

Ellis: going going real small like a clouser or you know having fun doing like a little

Ellis: micro game changer two-handed that stuff across places that people aren't really pressuring.

Ellis: Um i've seen some some large solution and had some heartbreaks on on really tough days,

Ellis: just saying you know what i've been fishing

Ellis: the right side so much and i know there's good fish issue over there

Ellis: but whatever this day has

Ellis: sucked let's go left i fished

Ellis: that one like last year and i

Ellis: watched someone pull out a complete stud that surprised

Ellis: both of us didn't make it in the boat so um

Ellis: yeah once once things start getting pressured it's really you you gotta go go

Ellis: with what you're most confident in on the end of your rod and then you know

Ellis: start getting sporty with the places that you're fishing well.

Marvin: There you go and you know folks we love questions on the articulate fly you

Marvin: can email them to us or dm us on social media whatever's easiest for you and

Marvin: if we use your question i will send you some articulate fly swag and we're going

Marvin: to draw for some cool stuff from ellis at the end of the season and ellis i have to ask you,

Marvin: was the Easter Bunny able to pick up those pastel colored bucktails?

Ellis: He picked up a few. There's still a bunch left. I think between the handful

Ellis: of releases and a couple other folk putting tails out, there's not a craze in demand.

Ellis: I also didn't push him too hard, but still got some good tails left.

Ellis: Left in, I got this shaggy gray that I always think every color is just bananas.

Ellis: Shaggy gray, some purples, some yellows, but, you know, typical natural range.

Ellis: But still a bunch of grade threes and fours, and I think maybe even a one or

Ellis: two sporting around in there.

Marvin: Yeah, and also, too, we know spring break, so people are distracted.

Marvin: So, you know, folks, remember, we've got two great opportunities in our Patreon

Marvin: community on the Articulate Fly.

Marvin: One of them will get you a discount on some of Ellis' bucktails,

Marvin: but there's another one where you get a $100 per year credit off a trip with Ellis.

Marvin: And Ellis, before I let you hop, I got you again with the pun.

Marvin: Why don't you let folks know where they can find you, talk fishing,

Marvin: and get on your guide calendar?

Ellis: Yeah, you can follow along with a portion of the flies that I tie and fish on

Ellis: Instagram at Ellis Ward Guides.

Ellis: And my website is EllisWardFlies.com.

Ellis: Best way to book a trip and fastest way to connect with me is my cell phone.

Ellis: Text or call at 513-543-0019. nine.

Marvin: Well, there you go. Well, listen, folks, we've got some great weather coming

Marvin: on the other side of the system.

Marvin: You owe it to yourself to get out there and catch a few tight lines,

Marvin: everybody tight lines, Ellis.

Ellis: Appreciate it, Mark.